Apocalypse: King of Zombies

The vampires looked stunned, their faces twisted in confusion and disappointment. The blood in their mouths suddenly tasted like ash.

”Try another human,” one of them growled, refusing to believe what was happening. They lunged at the others, tearing into flesh—but the result was the same.

The humans weren’t humans at all. Their bodies were hollowed out, packed full of white fungal threads.

”Damn it!” one of the vampires snarled, frustration boiling over.

But before they could react further, a wave of nausea hit them like a punch to the gut. Agonizing pain surged through their stomachs.

”Ugh—AARGH!”

They screamed in agony as their skin began to writhe. Red tumors bubbled up across their bodies—first a few, then dozens, piling on top of each other until their forms were grotesquely unrecognizable.

It was clear now: they’d been infected by Lil’ Shroom’s spores.

The vampires collapsed, convulsing violently. The tumors on their bodies creaked and squirmed, shifting grotesquely—until, impossibly, they began to reshape into human forms. Slowly, they stood back up.

”What the hell…” Ravena and the others stared in horror.

The remaining ”humans” stood motionless, their expressions blank, like puppets on strings. Then, in eerie unison, they spoke:

”You fell for it…”

As the words left their mouths, a cloud of spores drifted from their bodies, misting through the air and engulfing the vampire forces.

The weaker ones dropped almost instantly, spasming on the ground as the spores took hold.

The scene was nightmarish—enough to shake even the undead.

”Everyone, stay sharp! It’s a trap! Tear them apart!” Ravena shouted.

The vampires roared and charged, launching themselves at the mimics.

The mimics weren’t particularly strong. They couldn’t withstand the vampires’ assault. Within moments, they were shredded to pieces.

Their broken bodies hit the ground, white mycelium bursting out like smoke.

”The Zombie King of America is a sneaky bastard,” Ravena muttered. ”Good thing I caught on in time.”

”Uh… did you?” a short vampire minion glanced around. The floor was littered with corpses—dozens, maybe over a hundred of their own, drained and lifeless. ”Looks like we took some pretty heavy losses.”

Ravena slowly turned her head, her crimson eyes locking onto him.

”Then they were too weak to survive.”

”Y-yeah, totally,” the minion stammered, nodding quickly.

Ravena turned her gaze back to the office building ahead. Inside, shadows darted back and forth—people running, panicked.

”See that? They’re scared. They really thought these cheap tricks could stop me? Let’s keep moving!”

”Got it!” the vampires shouted, pushing forward, leaving the gate behind.

But then, a strange scent drifted through the air—light, sweet, and intoxicating. It tickled their senses, impossible to ignore.

”Mmm… smells amazing…” one of them murmured.

They looked around and saw the flowerbeds in front of the building had suddenly bloomed with delicate pink flowers—vivid, dewy, almost dreamlike.

Ravena frowned. That didn’t make sense. This wasn’t the season for flowers.

A fine mist of pollen hung in the air, slowly enveloping the vampires.

And then… the hallucinations began.

The world around them shifted. In the lobby of the building, dozens of humans appeared, their faces twisted in fear as they tried to flee.

”Now you run? Too late!” Ravena snapped. ”Kill them all!”

With her command, the vampires stormed the lobby.

They tackled the humans, tearing into them with savage hunger. Blood sprayed across the walls, thick and crimson.

The scent of blood drove the vampires into a frenzy. They ripped flesh from bone, devouring it in chunks.

Ravena, graceful and deadly, walked through the chaos. She stopped in front of a human lying on the floor, barely alive, bleeding out.

She looked down at him, eyes gleaming.

”Wanna live? Beg me.”

But the man just stared up at her, unblinking. Silent. Unmoved.

”Huh?” Ravena’s brow furrowed, irritation flickering in her crimson eyes.

This wasn’t fun anymore.

There was no thrill in killing someone who didn’t even flinch.

”Did I scare him stupid?” she muttered, bored. With a flick of her claw, she tore open his throat, blood spraying in a lazy arc.

Then she moved on, hunting for her next victim.

To an outside observer, it looked like the vampires were on a rampage, tearing through humans in a frenzy. But in reality, they were all trapped in a hallucination.

None of them had actually entered the building. They were still outside, circling the flowerbeds—ripping into each other.

Filthy, dark blood splattered across the delicate pink petals, staining them with a twisted beauty.

The flowers bloomed brighter with every drop spilled, their colors deepening into something almost obscene.

Then, the short vampire minion—the same one who’d questioned their losses earlier—crept up behind Ravena. In his eyes, she was just another terrified human.

He grinned wickedly and slashed out with his claws, his fingers like blades as they plunged into her back.

”Heheheh… Die!”

Ravena gasped, pain shooting through her. Something felt… off.

She spun around, eyes narrowing. The ”human” who’d attacked her was grinning like a maniac, clearly enjoying himself.

”That’s not right…”

Her instincts screamed at her. There was no way a human could sneak up on her like that—not without her sensing it.

Which meant…

Her perception had been dulled. Numbed.

A hallucination.

Realization hit her like a slap. She immediately shut her eyes, forcing herself to focus—like clawing her way out of a nightmare.

When she opened them again, the world had changed.

The ”human” who’d attacked her flickered, his form glitching like a broken hologram—until he morphed into the short vampire minion, eyes wild with bloodlust, mouth open, ready to bite her.

”Fuck!” Ravena snarled, fury exploding inside her. She kicked him hard in the chest, sending him flying across the courtyard.

She spun around, scanning her surroundings—and saw the truth.

They were still outside. She’d never made it into the lobby.

All around her, her vampire kin were tearing each other apart, locked in a frenzy of blood and madness. The ground was soaked in gore, bodies piled high, the air thick with the stench of death.

”Another goddamn trap!”

Ravena’s gaze dropped to the flowerbeds—the pink blossoms swaying gently, still releasing their cursed pollen.

She raised her foot and slammed it down.

The ground cracked with a thunderous boom. The flowerbed split open, the delicate blooms shattering under the force of her stomp.

The air cleared. The pollen dissipated.

One by one, the vampires began to snap out of it, blinking in confusion like waking from a fever dream.

”Huh? What the hell…?”

”Weren’t we just inside, slaughtering humans?”

”Yeah, I swear I was just—”

”Wait…”

One vampire stared at the severed head in his hands, his face going pale. He’d thought it was a human’s… but now, looking closer, it was clearly the head of another vampire—twisted in agony, fangs still bared.

”Oh shit…”

”It was all an illusion!”

The vampires looked around, horror dawning on their faces as they took in the carnage—their own people, butchered by their own hands.

Ravena stood in the middle of it all, her expression dark enough to curdle blood. Her fists clenched so tightly her knuckles turned white, veins bulging across the backs of her hands.

She was beyond furious.

Because in that illusion, she’d actually told a ”human” to beg for mercy.

Now, thinking back on it, she felt like a complete idiot.

”Is this what Scarlet Moon meant by ’fun’?!”

She glared at the office building ahead, rage simmering just beneath the surface.

Just then, the short vampire she’d kicked came stumbling back, still dazed. He looked at her, then blinked in surprise.

”Boss… you’re hurt?”

He pointed to her back—where his claws had raked across her skin, leaving deep, bloody gouges.

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